Did anyone hate nursing school?

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I am in second semester and I am just sooooo tired and run down. Every week I feel like quitting. I have an hour commute and 2 small kids so thats an added difficulty. Is it normal to dislike nursing school so much? I know Im probably just not thinking clearly at this point being so exhausted, but please tell me it all pays off in the end!

I, like many others worked toward this goal for so long, just trying to get in. I have always loved school. But since becoming an actual nursing student, I can barely get B's much less A's. I guess I thought nursing school would be so fun and interesting and full of cool new things to experience. But hard instructors and hours of clinical are more the case. And I feel so dumb all the time!

Just trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I need help seeing the good in it again. Thanks.......better go study!

I'm not quitting, BUT I think nursing school is extremely hard and I should've thought twice about it......But, it's too late now.... I'm 4th semester & almost done!

One of my instructors this semester is crazy, she screams and yells like she's Judge Judy on CRACK or something :chair:! SCARY!!!

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I HATED NURSING SCHOOL......more than I can express in words!!!! I was so exhausted ( i worked full time and attended school full time...all the way through)....I think I slept for a month when I was finished!

It is worth it though.....remind yourself.....it is not forever :-)

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Ok good! Im not crazy. Alot of people hated it. I guess I thought it might be somewhat enjoyable, to learn all this new stuff. Which it is........but like a previous poster said its just nonstop grueling stress.

Next week I have to give a presentation on a culture to a class of like 40! Public speaking is my BIGGEST fear. I hate people staring at me. Im totally gonna freeze up, throw up, and faint. I took Group Discussion for prereqs just to avoid this. Its totally riuned my maternity rotation- instead of enjoying the area I like most its been spoiled by having to think about this horrible speech I have to give.

In any other situation I would have dropped the class, had there been a speech requirement. But now I cant.....what am I gonna flunk out because of one speech, (my brain says yeah but my heart says no).

Ahhh I love #$%!@! this!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Next week I have to give a presentation on a culture to a class of like 40! Public speaking is my BIGGEST fear. I hate people staring at me. Im totally gonna freeze up, throw up, and faint.

Lol, if I have to ever have to give or listen to yet another speech about culture I'm going to throw up!

:chuckle

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Gee...now why would there be a nursing shortage when we can all relate so many wonderful, positive, nursing school memories to the public???? This is appalling! Why would any prospective nurses want to subject themselves to this stress that we're all describing?!? I thought it was just our city's Nursing Program but it sounds like it's nationwide!

I felt the same way in nursing school and I already had a Bachelors in a different field when I went through it. We did have some talented, caring instructors but the overall feeling was one of conflict. It didn't feel like the students and teachers had the same goal of making us successful, but rather, the teachers thought, "Let's see what you're willing to go through to get this license..." When you hear about nurses "eating their young" I think it starts in Nursing School! So many assignments and tedious work that we were forced to do had no value in the real workplace and because we were busy doing it....we didn't have time to learn the hands-on, patient organizational skills that a nurse needs. I wanted so badly to go to clinical and just follow the best nurse on the floor to learn from her. But we were so busy copying info from charts so we could write our next Case Study or Care Plan that we didn't have time for patient care. I think everyone reached an epiphany around the 3rd semester that it was simply survival. Get through school and get out in the real world to learn what a nurse really needs to know. I don't know how many times I heard, "All I need is a C to pass". At first I thought that was sad to set their sights so low but I quickly learned that it was actually a realistic, healthy mantra!

Some of the best nurses I work with now really struggled to make the grade. They had all the characteristic traits of a great nurse but not the formal educational background to make it easy for them to get through all the reading and technical information. I wished the school would have made it easier for them, knowing how much they would be able to offer the community as a nurse....but they perservered and made it anyway!

Wow! I guess I've been carrying a lot around for the last 5 years! It felt good to get it out! Thanks for the forum! And I hope Nursing Schools wise up pretty soon and develop programs that don't have the motto, "Here's the standard now try to attain it," but rather, "Here's what you need to know, now what can I do to help you learn it?"

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Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.

Hang in there its an necessary evil:chuckle It will be well worth it in the end.

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Nursing school is so much different than working in the real world as a nurse. I was so glad when it was finally over. I was also fortunate enough to go to work on a floor where there is much teamwork and no "nurse eating". The most terrible time that I went through during school was during my preceptorship. I was put with a nurse who shouldn't have been with students. She expected that my level of skill be that of an experienced nurse. I ended up switching preceptors, so the witch wouldn't fail me.

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Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I hated nursing school, but it certainly wasn't the best of times. I actually find the stress of my upcoming NCLEX a walk in the park compared with the constant stress of nursing school. I feel like I can breathe now that it's over!

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Specializes in CV-ICU, Rehab, Med-Surg, Nursing Home.

I feel nursing school is really more of trying to figure out what the instructor wants and how he or she wants it than what you need to learn, in order to earn a good grade. It's tough and you really need to set your pride to the side temporarily.

I have struggled with some very difficult instructors, spent long nights awake studying and prepping for clinicals, only to get criticized for half the work I did the next day anyways. So, yes it's a struggle, but remember it is temporary and I have also found that the bachelor classes (and general eds) are much more exciting.

Remember to just try to figure out what is most important to each individual instructor for each clinical/theory and find a way to make it work. They say you only learn 5-10% of what you really need to know in nursing school versus the real world anyways. Scary thought isn't it?

Nursing is so vast and there is so much to learn in so little time. My nursing school expects you to be immediately proficient following one lab check-off, when in reality it really takes a lot of trial and error as well as hands-on experience to grasp the knowledge and skills needed.

I work as a nurse extern, and I find that I am learning much more doing that than in school, but school certainly does lay the foundation to begin. I think the key of nursing is to know how to utilize your resources, learn to recognize critical symptoms immediately, GAIN EXPERIENCE - thus increase your nursing intuition and instinct, and who to contact when you're feeling unsure about any type of situation. I noticed some of the instructors analyze, criticize, and degrade students for some very insignificant reasons. But just get through it, keep your head up, know that you're not alone, and it will pay off in the end! GOOD LUCK!! NURSES ARE SURVIVORS!! :yelclap:

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I wouldn't say I hate nursing school, but I'm definitely not enjoying it. It really is a torturous experience. I work full time and go to school full time, so I have absolutely no time for family or friends, or even myself. Just school, work, school, work, school, etc. It sucks!!! The only thing that keeps me going is know that the agony will be over December 15, 2007. I can't wait!!!

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Ok good! Im not crazy. Alot of people hated it. I guess I thought it might be somewhat enjoyable, to learn all this new stuff. Which it is........but like a previous poster said its just nonstop grueling stress.

Next week I have to give a presentation on a culture to a class of like 40! Public speaking is my BIGGEST fear. I hate people staring at me. Im totally gonna freeze up, throw up, and faint. I took Group Discussion for prereqs just to avoid this. Its totally riuned my maternity rotation- instead of enjoying the area I like most its been spoiled by having to think about this horrible speech I have to give.

In any other situation I would have dropped the class, had there been a speech requirement. But now I cant.....what am I gonna flunk out because of one speech, (my brain says yeah but my heart says no).

Ahhh I love #$%!@! this!

Well...it's not forever..just keep telling yourself that! And what I used to do would be to say to myself "let's just get through today".......

I took speech a few years ago and we had to speak in front of the class every week with different things...one was how to do something....another was a testimonial, and if I can remember a toast to someone on a special occassion...to name a few....there was a speech every wqeek for the whole semester...16 weeks!!!....I was terrified for the same reasons as you are..I used to tremble awfully, shake, hyperventilate, ansd even cried once out of fear/nerves.....it actually became fun after a while & ended up being one of my favorite classes...lol!....My sister does a ton of public speaking and says the key to getting through it is to look above everyones head...and scan corner to corner periodically.....that way you will kind of forget people are sitting there.......it really does help becuase I followed her advice...........and also humor thrown in occasionally works phenomenally...............good luck!!

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Specializes in ER.

:selfbonk: Hated every bloody minute....particularly loathed clinical.

I was very concerned I would hate my job just as much...but I don't. People are right when they say that working as a nurse is very different from learning to be one.Hang in there.

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